FS-5400 scanning

[SeaDawg]

First of all the instruction book is pitiful. Things are happening that just are not explained.

Specifically, I scanned the SatMex 5 and 6 birds. As it is scanning, instead of seeing the TP list displayed in bright white I am seeing it in light blue and then no channels are found. It doesn't even try to find channels. It just dumps me back to the main menu for the satellite.

I've seen this on birds other scans but mixed with bright white.

Does anybody know what this is all about?

[William Eng]

Is your scan set to "FTA only"? You might try changing it to "ALL" My receiver will also just stop especially if it comes across a circular transponder.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by William Eng

...... My receiver will also just stop especially if it comes across a circular transponder.

A receiver cannot tell if a transponder is circular or linear.

[William Eng]

Originally Posted by wejones

A receiver cannot tell if a transponder is circular or linear.

No channel comes up when I scan a circular transponder. Am I making sense?

[wejones]

Originally Posted by William Eng

No channel comes up when I scan a circular transponder. Am I making sense?

I think so.
Probably just that the channels are encrypted on that transponder. Most of the channels on circular sats are encrypted, which goes along with your "all" recommendation. Ie when you say "all", the receiver will usually scan in channels even if they are encrypted. You still can't watch them, but it will enter them in your channel list.

[SeaDawg]

I'm setting the scan to "All". I've had no problem with the majority any of the birds I have set up and I am enjoying a lot of TV as well as radio. This quirk was evident yesterday when I tried to scan the SatMex birds and seems very strange.

Another quirk that started yesterday when I tried to "add a TP". Instead of giving me the dialog where I enter the TP freq, polarity, and SR, it sticks the words "New TP" in the list with the rest of the existing TP info. I'm beginning to think the firmware has become corrupted on this thing. Maybe I should return this for a different receiver and one with a decent manual.



I still need an answer to the primary question though about this receiver.

What is the significance of the light blue coloring of the discovered TPs in the list?

I mostly see the list colored as bright white with an occasional smattering of light blue. Every TP discovered on the SatMex birds was light blue and not bright white and it never even attempted to discover the any channels for each TP.

Why can't Fortec publish a decent manual? Did I buy a poor quality receiver?

Thanks.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by SeaDawg

I'm setting the scan to "All". I've had no problem with the majority any of the birds I have set up and I am enjoying a lot of TV as well as radio. This quirk was evident yesterday when I tried to scan the SatMex birds and seems very strange.

Another quirk that started yesterday when I tried to "add a TP". Instead of giving me the dialog where I enter the TP freq, polarity, and SR, it sticks the words "New TP" in the list with the rest of the existing TP info. I'm beginning to think the firmware has become corrupted on this thing. Maybe I should return this for a different receiver and one with a decent manual.



I still need an answer to the primary question though about this receiver.

What is the significance of the light blue coloring of the discovered TPs in the list?

I mostly see the list colored as bright white with an occasional smattering of light blue. Every TP discovered on the SatMex birds was light blue and not bright white and it never even attempted to discover the any channels for each TP.

Why can't Fortec publish a decent manual? Did I buy a poor quality receiver?

Thanks.

Not too many people here have that receiver, mainly because there is not much need for the smartcard reader thing. Re the colored entries, if you made note of the entries that were white vs the light blue, you might be able to compare your list to what you see in Lyngsat to figure out what it's trying to denote.
Re the behavior that makes you think corrupted firmware, it does sound strange. It almost sounds like what the Ultra does when you've exceeded the transponder memory, ie very weird things happen. How long have you had this receiver, and have you done so many scans that you may have an excessive number of transponders and channels in memory? If so, it might be recommended to just do a reset and go back to factory conditions and start over. I don't know what kind of channel editor they have for that receiver. The editor for the Lifetime and Ultra makes it easy to see how many transponders and channels and sats you've used up, and what the limits are, but the editor for the Mercury is worthless. If the firmware is corrupted you can re-load it, but I'd try wiping out the transponder/channel memory before resorting to that.